Head of stringed musical instruments



(No Model.)

A. HYDE.

HEAD OF STRINGE-D MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. I No. 310,590. I Patented-Jan. 13, 1885.

UNITED STATES PATENT QEEIcE.

ANDREW HYDE, OF HATFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS.

HEAD OF STRINGED MUSICAL lNSTRUMENTS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 310,590, dated January 13, 1885.

(No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, ANDREW HYDE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Hatfield, in the county of Hampshire, and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain Iniprovements in the Heads of Stringed Musical Instruments, of which the following is a specification.

The first part of my invention relates to improvements in the mechanism used to rorate the peg or drum upon which a string is wound and by which it is tuned. The second part of my invention relates to the construction of the peg or drum, whereby the end of a short string may be secured to the peg, or a long string be made fast at a point thereof, to cause it to be stretched simultaneously with the rotation of the peg. These improvements are fully illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure I is a side View of a violin head. Fig. II is a plan view of the same, and Figs. III, IV, and V are enlarged details.

B is the gear uponthe end of the drum O. The drum 0 is in the usual manner collared or otherwise held in place in the head to extend from side to side.

D is the worm, held in bearings to be rolated by a convenient handle, (1, and engage with the gear B.

Heretofore the worm-gearing has been arranged to be inseparable, so that the revolution of the drum in either direction could only be a slow process; but by adapting the worm D to be thrown at will from connection with the gear 13, it will be seen that any portion of string remaining on the drum may be pulled, to rapidly release itself by revolving the drum.

By the provision of a convenient handle, E, upon a prolongation of the axis of the drum 0, at a point outside of gear B, a new string attached to the drum can be rapidly wound, as in the case of an ordinary peg, until near the proper pitch, and then be brought into tune by the worm shaft D, thrown into operative position at the last moment.

In Figs. I and II, as a convenient method of arranging aworm shaft, D, removable at will, the shaft is shown in fixed journal-bearings, d d, to be moved tangentially to the gear B, the shaft having stops 0 c to limit the distance it can he slid in either direction by bringing up against either the upper or lower journal-bearing d. The shaft D fits snugly enough to be held by friction in its bearings when pushed up, as shown in Fig. I, and when operative, as shown in the same figure, the tension of the string acts through gear 13 to retain it in position.

In Fig. II one bearing d is shown, with the shaft D removed.

Another method of arranging the wormshaft D to be manually released from the gear B is shown in Fig. III, in which an upper journal-bearing c is pivoted in the side of the instrumenthead or in a plate attached thereto, and a lower bearing 0 arranged to extend into and be movable in a slot, f, against a binding -spring, 3 acting to retain said lower bearing at either end of its swing. In the same figure, in dotted lines, is shown the position taken by the shaft D when swung to release gear B.

In the spools or drums of mechanical heads, as well as in the ordinary pegs, there are many strings which cannot be utilized from being too short to have turns enough taken with. their ends around the peg to hold; but by arranging axially within the peg or drum a screw to extend to the transverse hole through the same I am able instantly to bind the string to the peg at an extreme end, or at any point in its length, so that the rotation of the peg is effective to at once bring a tension upon the string. Though this may be accomplished by means of a perforation in the end of the screw through which the string is passed when coincident with the peg -hole. and binding the string upon a partial turn of the screw, I prefer the means shown in the drawings, in which the end of a screw binds the string against the farther wall of the peghole.

In Fig. IV a section of the drum 0 of a mechanical head is shown having the screw II in position to secure the string i being the ordinary hole through which the string is passed, and I the head of the screw, coming outside of the instrument in convenient reach of the fingers.

In Fig. I the perforated end of one pegis shown with the screw II removed.

ICO

Fig. V shows the screw H as combined with an ordinary wooden peg, \V.

I-Ieretofore a winding-drum for strings in this class of instruments has been known in which the worm-wheel was disengaged from the drum by a longitudinal movement of the wheel with reference to the drum. This 11ecessitated the cutting away and weakening of the drum. Such construction I do not claim.

Now, having described my invention, what I claim is 1. In combination with the head ofastringed instrument, a winding-drum, a worm wheel fixed to said drum outside the head, and a worm movably mounted 011 the head so as to be shifted into or out of engagement with the worm-wheel, substantially as described.

2. The combination, with the head of a stringed instrument, of a winding-drum, a worm-wheel secured to said drum outside the head, and a worm-shaft mounted in a swiveled and a sliding bearing, so that the worm may be swung into or out of engagement with the gear-wheel, substantially as described.

3. The combination, with a cord winding peg or drum of a musical instrument, of a binding screw arranged to extend from one end of the peg or drum and within the same to the hole therethrough, and adapted to, upon rotation, bind the string within said 1101c and so secure it to the peg or drum, substantially as shown and described.

ANDRE\V HYDE.

Witnesses:

R. S. HYDE, '1. M. BROWN. 

